UPDATE: Mom didn't just ditch the bickering kids

How many times have we threatened to pull over this car if you kids don't stop bickering over who gets the window seat or who has been called a boogerhead? Well, a White Plains, N.Y., attorney/mom did it. There has been plenty of chatter about this story, and now the attorney for Madlyn Primoff is finally answering questions, and he said initial reports that she just drove home are untrue.

Sure, she booted the kids out of her car. But he says she simply drove around the block in a pedestrian-friendly upscale shopping district. However, the 10- and 12-year-old girls were gone when she returned, defense attorney Vincent Bricetti told the Associated Press.

Briccetti said the older girl had begun walking home — 3 miles away — and the younger girl was apparently taken in hand by a passer-by who called police.

Condemnation was swift that this was a potentially dangerous and emotionally damaging way to parent. But now there's a growing backlash saying the police didn't need to get involved and one bad day does not a bad mother make. Health and wellness blogger Brett Blumethal notes these are not toddlers, so when did discipline become illegal? I have to think this mother's dramatic gesture is now going way beyond what she ever imagined.

-- Sharon Kennedy Wynne

[Madlyn Primoff, who was fed up with her children's fighting, kicked them out of the car in downtown White Plains and drove away on Sunday. She faces a misdemeanor child endangerment charge. (AP Photo)]

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